The Horror House
by ladywhiplasher
Summary: Forced to stay a night at a old house in the woods, the penguins will face their worst nightmares. Will they survive and get out of this hell? Warning: some caracter deaths and really depressing moments. The story is kind of based on a horrormovie.
1. A Long Way Home

**This is my new story. Its like a horrormovie. so if you don´t like despaired moments and a little bloody scenes don´t read it. I warned you. The first chapter is pretty short I know but the following will be longer. So now read and review. ;-) XOXO**

The Penguins were on their way back home from an exhausting mission. They were pretty far from New York this time. Just in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing else but wide fields and forests. Even humans seemed to be all disappeared from this place. No cars were around with they eventually drive home. "Kowalski, how long?" Skipper asked, annoyed and tired. The scientist looked at this empty area. "According to my calculation, there may possibly show up some houses, streets or even a small village, eventually." Kowalski also said exhausted.

Skipper rolled his eyes. "Now that was a pretty precise answer." said the leader sarcastically. The constant quarrels went for hours so Private and Rico just shut up because they wouldn´t annoy the both even more. Hours passed by and the cloudy sky slowly began to dawn. That made the area become more and more gloomy. None of the four felt like talking now. They hadn´t any clue of where they were but they followed still the same road they´ve already embarked for hours.

But this path ended after a while and resulted in a poorly accessible path. "Let´s go men, if we want to get home before next year, we should hurry up a bit." Skipper said annoyed and catched a very angy look from Kowalski because of saying this. This was the first time the scientist or Skipper had no plan where to go. "But there has to be a sign of anything anywhere?," asked the small private, to break the silence among the four penguins. "Yes this is pretty weird. I mean here is nothing, less than nothing. We´ve got to find a place to stay." Kowalski said wearily.


	2. The Dark Forest

They followed a rocky dirty path for hours now. Their feet already began to hurt. But a few miles in front them showed up a forest "Well at least we could stay in there for the night. The trees will keep us hidden. Will never arrive at home today anymore." Skipper said, and walked ahead. Private looked around. Somehow he was concerned about sleeping in this dark forest. The leaves of the trees began to rustle threatening when the penguins entered the forest.

The small penguin felt a cold shiver running down his spine, he´d prefer to leave immediatly again. But just thinking about staying here all night made Private very nervous. "Um, Skipper, why do we have to sleep at this creepy forest." Private asked with hope that Skipper would change his mind. But he was wrong. "We gotta be careful, young Private. In a free field everyone could detect us immediatly. Than we could just surrender to our enemies, this is a good camouflage, Private." Skipper replied and looked angry at him like he would kill im for this incredible naive question.

Private swallowed and said nothing, because when Skipper was annoyed once, he could be quite scary. He sighed and continued following him. After a few miles they were already so deep inside the forest so that they couldn´t even see the sky above them. But Skipper was sure about finding here a perfect hiding place. But Skipper stopped suddenly and Private who was looking sadly at his feet all the time crashed into him. "Skipper, what is it?" Kowalski asked, surprised. "Look, there is a fence with a gate," the leader said hopefully. But that was not just a fence. Before them stood a large cast-iron antique gate, with the belonging fence.

The spikes looked very threatening. There was no way to climb over them without getting hurt. Skipper looked around and discovered a small, rusty padlock that hung on the gate. He tried to climb the poles up to the lock trying to crack it. But at the halfway the leader slipped and landed painfully on the dusty ground. "Rico, it's your turn." Skipper gasped and got up again. The maniac penguin walked a few steps back to take a run. The others watched him intently as he ran. Rico jumped and managed to break the lock with his powerful beak. With a thud it landed on the forest ground. Skipper quickly opened the gate so they could enter. "So this is like a penguin opens a door." he said and gave the other high fives. "And what are we going to do now." Private said fearfully. "Private as you see this is or is supposed to be a garden . And where´s a garden there will be a house where we can spend the night." said the leader cheerfully. Skipper was right. Here once seemed to be a beautiful garden. Private looked around. But now everything was wild. The plants grew uncontrollably from their beds and the grass hasn´t seen a mower for ages.

The penguins continued their way as a icy cold wind blew through the forest. The treetops swayed threateningly, as if the trees would fall down any moment. A heavy rain started which seemed to be a lot colder than normal. "Run, fast!" said Skipper, who had to yell so that the others were able to understand him because of the howling wind. As fast as possible they ran along the way. After about ten minutes, a really big house stood in front of them suddenly. It actually looked like a small wooden caslte with a black and kind of creepy facade. Private shuddered. He´d never seen such a weird house. It was obviously left, yet it radiated a ghostly presence. From many windows no light penetrated from the inside. It seemed to be as dark inside like the house looked like on the outside.


	3. Entering Hell

The four evaluated the house several minutes and it looked more and more threatening. Private could hardly keep his fear under control. He knew that he´d seen this house sometime before. A few weeks ago he watched a report on TV. It was about the 10 most haunted houses in America. But when the the last and most spooky house was shown, Private turned off the TV in fear. But he could exacly remember the picture of it. He was standing right in front of now "Skipper, please. Let´s get out of here." Private whimpered anxiously. "What, why that? Would you like to sleep in this freezing rain?" asked the leader and turned around. Skipper saw that the small penguin was just terrified. "What's wrong with you? It's just a big house. Okay, it might be a little scary. But just because no one lives here." Skipper said, trying to calm down Private. "But it is haunted. I know it. Please let´s leave, Skipper." Private said in a trembling voice, clinging to Skippers flipper like a baby.

"Now just stop being such a baby. We're all together, you'll be fine. I don´t want to get a cold wet death outside here." Skipper said finally. "Okay, let´s go inside." Kowalski said, and walked toward the large black door. He tried to open it, but it was locked up tightly. He quickly jumped on Rico's head to get to the keyhole. With a metal stick Rico regurgigated he tried to open the lock. But in vain.

They actually didn´t know how to get inside. "Rico, show us how a real penguin breaks a lock." Skipper said with a sinister grin on his face. The crazy penguin understood immediately and spat out a few sticks of dynamite, which he placed with a time fuze at the door. All waited excited until the dynamite exploded after 30 seconds. But when the smoke cleared, the door was still locked without any scratch on it. "Damn! That´s not possible." Skipper cursed and hit the door with his foot.

The wind began to howl even more. It was freezing cold, but Private still had hope for not sleeping inside this dark house. After a few more failed attempts they were about to give up and prepared to sleep in this cold rain. "Where are we going now. We just need a place to stay." Private said cheerfully, but he shouldn´t have said this. A sudden howl opened the door as it would have been never locked up. Private felt his stomach clench as he looked into the deep darkness of the house. The others were so glad for finally getting a place to stay.

They walked a few steps inside. It was so dard so they couldn´t even see their flippes in front of their eyes. A musty smell came from the house, that made it ten times worse. The waddeld a few meters down the hall, as the door closed itself as fast as it have been opened. Private felt trapped in the dark. "Rico, light" ordered Skipper. The penguin immediately choked up a flashlight so they could watch the house closely.

Everything was pitch black and covered with cobwebs and dust. It was like a haunted house from a picture book. The wooden floorboards creaked with every step and the wind blew through all corners. Everything was quiet. Private could hear the excited beating of his heart. "Man, this looks like a horror movie. Just the spooky ghosts and zombies are still missing." Skipper said enthusiastically. His remark was a bit aggressive. He really like the thought of fighting a ghost.

"So it looks like nobody lived here for ages." Kowalski said objectively and took a close look on the dust on the floor. Maybe the owners lost their life in a strange accident and started haunting their own house. "Skipper said sarcastically, laughing at his own joke. Private stomach clench constantly. He didn´t understand why the other ones don´t want to leave this house. Skipper turned to his team "So start operation: Raid the spooky ghost´s house. Check every piece of dust. Maybe we'll find something useful. "And so they began to search the whole house. In teams of two they looked at every angle. Private always tried to not to move more than one meter away from Skipper. He was never been afraid like that. He sneaked behind his leader without any word. But Skipper soon noticed Private´s strange behaviour. "Now tell me what´s the matter with you and stop creeping behind me like a dog." he said and forced the small penguin to tell him the truth. "Fine. I´m already sick of fear and you don´t even care. I think you just want to get into a fight with a ghost or something worse. I'm sorry I'm not as brave as you. "Wailed Private and buried his face in his flippers." Now listen, Private. We're all with you. Nothing can happen. You know that. "Skipper said softly, patting the little penguin encouragingly on the back.

Private felt a little better but Skippers confidence made the house not less sinister. The house search came to an abrupt end when the penguins noted that every room except the bath, bedroom and the kitchen all were locked up tightly "Perhaps we need a code word." Kowalski said. "Oh yes and what? Open Sesame?, "said Skipper sarcastic and jumped around in front of the faded door that supposed to be leading into the livingroom. Nothing happened, so they contented themselves with the three rooms that were not locked. After all, they were save from the rain outside which was already like a hurricane.


	4. The First Fright

**Note: There will be a cute scene with Skipper and Private in this chapter. Like father and son. Please review. XOXO**

Everyone was too tired to do anything today anymore. Kowalski found an old picture in an antique frame druing the search. It were a man, a woman and a ten year old girl in it. The weird thing was that the faces were cut out of from the photo. Slowly it was getting scary. The penguins made their way into the bedroom where two large beds stood. The white bedspreads had lace at the edges, which was very dirty. The moon shone brightly through the large window inside the wall.

The black branches of the trees still shook from the storm and the rain was beating loudly against the window pane. After they had prepared the beds Private glanced around the room anxiously. But he could not see anything threatening. Always in pairs, they shared a bed. Private looked very sadly at Skipper. He just rolled his eyes. "Come on then. But please stop beeing such a baby." Skipper said resilient.

Private was so glad to share his bed with Skipper. But he knew that he wouldn´t get any sleep. Rico and Kowalski shared a bed and fell asleep even before Skipper turned off the light. "Good night, boys." said the leader, turned off the flashlight and put it on the small bedside table. Skipper made himself comfortable and slipped under the blanket. He also slept within a few minutes deeply and tightly. Private was now the only one who was awake. He watched the moon shining brightly through the window. The little penguin heard strange noises around the house again and again. It was getting louder and he got a real panic attack. He wasn´t able to get some sleep anyway. A few minutes passed and Private slipped closer to Skipper in fear. He didn´t want to be alone. Quietly and cautiously, he cuddled up to Skipper, who didn´t noticed anything. Now he felt a little safer now, and tried to sleepl. After several minutes he succeeded. But he slept very badly. Private dreamed of black hands that wanted to grab him and his friends. In the middle of the night he was suddenly awakened by a loud bang. A thunderstorm started outside. And that was not the only thing that had awakened him. He urgently had to go to the bathroom. But he wasn´t able to go alone.

He didn´t know what to do. He wouldn´t make it until tomorrow anyway. Privat had no other choise to wake Skipper. The little boy gulped. He didn´t want to know Skippers reaction if he asks him to join him to the bathroom. But he had to try. "Skipper. Hey, wake up." Private whispered softly and gently nudged Skipper. But he just turned to another side and went back to sleep calmly. "Skipper. Please wake up. You gotta help me." whispered the little bit louder and passed the leader on the back. "What's the matter?" Skipper asked, still dazed. "Skipper please. I gotta go to the bathroom. Can you please come with me, I´m so afraid to go alone." explained Private and expected Skipper to tell him that he was totally out of mind. Skipper groaned. "If you let me go back to sleep then and don´t suffocate me all night. If you want to cuddle you´ve had taken your lunacorn along." Skipper said sleepily and yawned. Private not say anything, because it was all a bit embarrassing.

After skipper was finally got out of bed, he grabbed the flashlight and waddled quietly along with Private. He didn´t want to wake the other penguins for Privates frearfull behaviour. The hallway was pitch dark and they could hardly see anything. "So once and for all. This house is not haunted and there are no ghosts around here." Skipper said wearily. "I do not care. I'm still scared. Thank you for coming with me." Private said sheepishly. Skipper sighed. "This is the last time that I give such wimps land. And anyway, why did you snuggle up to me?" Skipper asked. "Well, uh, I don´t know. I was just scared and wanted someone with me. Please do not misunderstand, I'm just still a little kid, sometimes." Private replied embarrassed. "Okay I don´t mind. If we go back to sleep afterwards, then you may cuddle up to me. If it makes you happy and you finally let me sleep." Skipper said resilient.

He was too tired to get upset about such childish things. But Private was still a penguin child who sometimes needed someone to be like a big brother for him. Private now felt a little better. With Skipper on his side he was much less afraid. But suddenly a cold wind blew through the floor. It was freezing cold and it sounded like an eerie howl. Private immediatly hid behind Skippers back. Now the leader was on alert. "Come on let's go. I think that just a window has been opened." he said with a slightly nervous voice.

When they finally arrived in the bathroom, they shut the door quickly. Skipper tried to switch the light on. And indeed. This was the only room where the light was working. The bathroom was in a surprisingly poor condition. Almost all of the tiles were chipped and broken. The mirror was broken as well. Everything was dirty and dusty. After private was finally finished, he jumped on the sink to wash his flippers. But when he turned on the tap, nothing happened. "Oh, not this is broken too." Private said. "Let me see." said Skipper and jumped on the sink. He quickly turned the two knobs to full, but didn´t work. There was only a gurgling sound. "Wait, I think they are only clogged up." said the leader, and beat his wings slightly against the tap. But this was a mistake. Suddenly a whole flood came out of it. The two fell from the pool and landed on the floor. Private heard a loud scream. He quickly opened his eyes to look what's going on. The little penguin got a huge fright. Skipper was covered with a dark red liquid from head to foot. It looked like blood. "Skipper, are you hurt?" cried the little Private in panic and ran to Skipper. "No, don´t worry. I´m fine." Skipper said and got up. He easily sniffed his flippers and licked on it. He grimaced and spat on the ground. "Ugh, that's blood, Private." Skipper said with nervous undertone. "Are you all really okay?" asked the little boy looking worried at his leader.

"No, I´m fine. That's not my blood. That came from the tap." Skipper mumbled and tried to shake it off. Private quickly took a cloth that he saw lying in the corner and gave it to Skipper to wipe the blood off. But the blood really stucked to him. The two looked up at the tap, where water was flowing now. Skipper jumped quickly into the sink to take a shower. It took a while. Private looked like loosing consiousness because he couldn´t see no blood. After Skipper got rid of the blood, he took Privates flipper and ran out of the bathroom. "Fast, Private. We´ll wake the others and leave immediately." Skipper said with a hint of panic. Private was glad that the leader finally believed him. There was clearly something wrong with this house.


	5. Too Late

**Note: This will be a very sad chapter. So you possibly need some tissues. Please Read and Review. XOXO**

The two penguins ran back to the bedroom as fast as possible, but something looked weird to them. "Did you shut the door?" Skipper asked nervously. Private shook his head because he was to afraid to say just another word. Skipper tried to open the door, but it was closed tightly. Now he lost his temper. "Kowalski, Rico. Open the door!" he shouted, pounding against the bedroom door. But they got no answer.

"Men, can you hear me?" screamed the leader again. Again silence followed. Skipper now tried to open the door with all his strengh. But it still remained closed. Skipper´s heart raced painfully and he didn´t know what to do. After a few seconds of silence, the two suddenly heard agonizing screams from inside. Skipper got a sting into his stomach. "Kowalski! Rico, no!" roared the Penguin and started again unsuccessful attempts to break the door. Private watched him.

He was just petrified and unable to move. The screams became louder and more desperate. "Skipper, please help us ..." Kowalski heard they plead. In utter despair skipper tried to ram the door, but this was a lot more resistant as he thought. He hit with full force against it and grasped after air in pain. His ribs felt just as if they were pulverized.

Suddenly Kowalskis and Ricos screams stopped. Skipper felt his heart exposed. "No, no please." implored the leader of despair. Private fainted and was caught by Skipper. "Private, you´re okay?" shouted the leader in despair. "Oh God, do you think the two are ..." Private could´t pronounce the rest. "I don´t know. I hope not." Skipper muttered. The leader tried to keep calm and went back to the door. He laid on the floor and tried to see anything through the door gap. But everything was pitch dark. "Private, the flashlight." Skipper said, and shone under the gap.

At first he could see nothing, but then he saw something that made him fainting. "Skipper, hey wake up. Come on, what have you since seen?" he heard Privates distant voice. The leader regained consiousness and tried to not loosing it again. But what he had seen the door behind he will never forget. He saw Kowalski's lifeless eyes staring at him reproachfully. But just the thought of it, led to an explosion for his pulse. "Private ... I don´t know how to tell you. Kowalski and Rico. They´re dead ..." Skipper muttered, fighting back tears.

The little penguin was shocked when he heard this. "Are you sure?" he stammered. Skipper nodded silently. He was so despaired and not able to say anything. "No, that can´t be ..." Private murmured, and sank to the ground. Now the boy could no longer hold back his tears. Skipper tried to see anything through the door gap agaein. Up to Kowalski's body, he couldn´t see anything. But suddenly he felt something wet and warm at his stomach. He quickly jumped up and saw that fresh blood leaked through the door gap. Kowalski and Rico's blood. The blood of his beloved brothers. Skipper was hyperventilating. He coulnd´t understand it. Why they hadn´t been faster?

The leader also was unable to do anything. Two penguins of his team laid dead behind this door and he couldn´t prevent it. Like numb, he sat down next to Private who was crying his eyes cout. Skipper wiped the blood from his belly and huged the small penguin. "Private ... I don´t know what to say in these situations. But they are now in a better place I suppose. They were the best friends I could ever imagine. I will never forget our brothers and hope that we see them again, when our time has come ..." Skipper said softly to Private.

Even the brave penguin couldn´t hold his tears back any longer. "Skipper, what are we going to do now? How should we ever escape from here? What if we have to die too?" Private whimpered and pressed his head against Skippers chest. "Don´t worry, Private. I'll take care of you. I will protect you from everything that stands in our way." said the leader, and gently petted the little penguins head. "But we can´t give up now. I do not think Rico and Kowalski died in vain. So come on, let's get out of here." Skipper said, trying to sound as confident as possible. The leader got up and pulled Private with him. The wind blew harder and harder around the house. Quietly the went down the stairs. From now on, Skipper was on red alert but Private felt like sucked into a deep black hole. Like a zombie, he followed Skipper. He had suspected this from the beginning, but he wasn´t able to convince the others of that presumption.

Now, there was one question. What killed Kowalski and Rico? They had fought against anything. But that was in the room? Was could be so cruel "Skipper, who do you think has done this?" Private asked anxiously. He was not able to pronounce the names of his deceased brothers. Skipper hesitated to answer because he´d seen a bit more than he told Private. But the whole truth would have been too much for the little penguin. Kowalski and Rico were not just been murdered in their sleep. Their bodies were completely dismembered and distributed to the whole room was. Even Skipper got just terrified of this memory. But that was the whole truth. He just couldn´t forget what he saw. Kowalski's rigid, reproachful look. Skipper could scream in pain. Why it didn´t happen to all of them so that they wouldn´t have to suffer now? Why he was so powerless?

From these memories, he got a painfull sting in his heart. He couldn´t permit to let this happen to Private. Even when he has to die for protecting the little penguin. When they left the stairs behind, they ran toward the front door. They felt almost to be free already, but when they stopped at the door, Skipper saw that the keyhole and the doorknob were disappeared completely. Private felt a cold shiver down his spine. The leader could stand it no more and tried to break the door violently. He let out all his frustration and all the grief. However, the strong beats of the muscular Skipper could not harm the massive door.


	6. Cemetery in the Garden

After several minutes, Skipper was completely exhausted. He dropped to his knees breathing hard from exertion. "Private, it doesn´t open. We are trapped here." gasped the leader. It was like Private suspected. Skipper closed to hold his tears back. They leader was so despaired like he never has been before. But they couldn´t give up now. "Skipper, maybe there is another way." said Private and helped the leader to stand up. "And what? We should never have entered his place! It's all my fault. I shouldn´t have never lead you to this damn house!" Skipper yelled. It was so angry about himself and threw an old vase, which was standing next to a window, against the wall. Private has never seen Skipper upset like this before. He was actually afraid of him.

The little penguin watched the leader trying to break the window. But the more he pursued it, the more resistant the glass seemed to be. Then Skipper tried desperately to break the window with the remains of the broken vase and cut his flipper with it. But he didn´t care that his right wing started bleeding heavily. Now it was on Private to stop Skipper before he injured himself seriously. "Skipper, you have to calm down. Toghether we´ll find another way." said private and walked slowly a few steps toward the upset leader. But Skipper was so enraged that he wasn´t able to calm down. "Come here ghosts. I´m here. Leave the child alone and kill me. It´s all my fault!" Skipper shouted into the darkness. He had a nervous breakdown.

The penguin started to cry, he couldn´t hide his despair any longer. Private quickly waddled to him and hugged Skipper, so he doesn´t demolish anymore. The leader lost the feeling in his feet and collapsed. He was just too exhausted. Private still hugged him tightly so he didn´t fall on the ground. "We will get out of heare. We just need to focus." Private said and felt Skipper calming down again. After a few minutes he was able to control himself again . 'You're right. I'm sorry that you had to watch me loosing it. But that all is to much for me "Skipper muttered sadly. He was embarrassed that Private saw him so despaired and helpless. But even the strong Skipper lost all his hope and didn´t know how to get out of here.

After Skipper had finally calmed down, he noticed that his right flipper was bleeding heavily. Private waddled quickly to the tattered curtains on the windows and ripped a piece off. The leader pressed his injured wing to his body and waited for Private, until he came back with a piece of cloth. The little penguine bandaged Skippers flipper quickly. "So that might help." Private and said let go the leaders flipper who now smiled gently. "Thank you, now let's try to get out of here." Skipper said confident. The two decided to search the house for another exit. They also found another door in the kitchen which led into the garden. But this was also locked up with no keyhole or doornob. Skippers confidence faded with each minute again, but he didn´t want to get upset like he did before. The situation got worse and worse with every second passing by. Skipper jumped on the cupboard in the kitchen, trying to see anything through the window. It was a pitch black night and it continued storming outside . No light penetrated through the trees, which made it impossible to see anything out there. The leader saw only his own reflection in the window.

"Skipper, can you see anything?" Private asked hopefully. But as the skipper wanted to deny the answer, a bright lightning flashed the sky and the leader was able to see something in the lit garden. But what he saw made his heart fall down. The once beautiful garden was littered with tombstones. There were hundreds. Skipper got an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. Another lightning flashed and the leader could even read what have been engraved into the stones that were standing next to the house. Two of the tombs had the names of Kowalski and Rico written on. Both looked like they were shoveled recently.

Skipper's heart startet to pound painfully. The emotional pain embraced him again. But then he saw another flash and two other graves. Skipper couldn´t believe what he saw. He gasped for air as he his name and Private´s on the two tombstones next to Kowalskis and Ricos grave. They were still opened and two penguin sized black coffins laid next to them. The leader felt his senses fading. Private quickly jumped up to the cupboard too. "Skipper, are you okay?" asked the boy anxiously. "I´m fine. I just felt a little dizzy." Skipper muttered, holding his head to get rid of the dizziness. He didn´t know if he should tell private what he had seen. But why should he lie to him? "Private, I ... I have seen graves. On two is written Kowalski and Rico." Skipper's voice trembled, but he had to tell the child the truth. "And next to the two graves, I could see our names. And there were even two coffins ..." Skipper desperately buried his face under his wings.

Private was shocked, he knew what that means. "Do you think that are all the graves of those who died here in this house?" Private asked. Skipper nodded and looked to Private. "This means that we are the next to ..." Private could not speak out loud what he thought. He trembled with fear. Skipper put his flippers on his back. "I won´t allow that something happens to you. I promise." Skipper said seriously. "But what if anything happens to you?" aked Private full of fear. Skipper couldn´t answer him. One thing he knew for sure, he would protect Private with his life.


	7. Memories of the Dead

Skipper decided to keep on raiding the house. They could do nothing else. Quietly the penguins waddled back into the hall toward the stairs. Although it was very dark, Skipper found another door, which they hadn´t even noticed until now. It opended immediately, when the penguins approached. Skipper looked carefully behind it.

There were another stairs which seemed to lead into the basement of the house. Both tried collect all of their encourage and went down. Everything was dark and they couldn´t see the slightest thing. There was a dead silence. Even the howling of the wind couldn´t be heard here. Skipper felt that his heart almost exploded from fear. The stairs seemed to take no end and the tension increased.

They went a small eternity before they reached another black door . Skipper didn´t know what awaited them behind it, and hesitated to open it. Private was quiet as a mouse and hid behind his leader. Skipper began slowly and cautiously to open the door. It creaked loudly, and revealed another room of darkness. Slowly they crept into it. Skipper slowly shone with his flashlight and started searching the room. But this was no ordinary basement. On the walls of niches were massive iron bars were installed. Then there was an acient wooden table in the middle of the room. It had chains on it.

The blood spots on it, looked like that someone had been tortured and killed on it. The Penguins got a sting into the stomach. But Skipper tried to focus and went ahead. He went to an old locker that stood in the corner and opened it carefully. He a huge fright when he saw what was in there. It was torture tools. Rusty knives and daggers revelated to him and they still were stuck in some fresh blood. Skipper would bet that this blood came from Kowalski and Rico. But the knives were completely smeared with blood, so he could well imagine how his brothers have been tortured and killed. Skipper quickly closed the locker again before Private saw whats in there. It was even too much for himself to endure, but that would Private let loosing his mind at all.

"Skipper, look at this" heard the leader, who was lost in his thoughts, Private anxious voice. Skipper looked up and ran over to him. Private stood before one of the cages, and pointed to a dirty scrap of paper that laid on the ground. The leader grabbed the paper and unfolded it. It was a letter. Although he was much stained with blood, they could still read well what was inside:

17 January 1843

We just moved into our new house. It is so beautiful and great. Father says that I have so much space to play and mother could plant the garden. My father was so poud of this house. It has always been his dream to life in there. We´re just another happy family.

Skipper was assumed that this is a kind of a diary from the little girl on the photo Kowalski had discovered. The thought that Kowalski would never make a discovery again, gave skipper a painful stab in the chest. They read more ...

2. February 1843

The days move passed and we have settled great. But father is behaving strangely for days. He locked himself into the basement recently. The only place in the house where mother and I can not enter. I do not know what he's doing down there. But sometimes I hear a horrendous howling in the night. It didn´t stop and also mother is behaving strangely. My parents were fighting constantly and I was always sent to my room when it was loud. I heard my mother cry and scream again and again...

14. March 1843

My parents didn´t even talk to each other anymore and father spent all days and nights in the basement. I was just wondering what´s down there. One time when I heard my parents fighting again a sudden loud cracking noise brought silence. Since then I haven´t seen my mother anymore. My father said that she´s visiting an old aunt of her but I didn´t believe him. So I decided to search the basement after her...

Skipper stopped reading and looked nervous at Private. They didn´t event want to think about what´s happening next. The next part of the letter was really hard to read because the ink was almost totally smeared as it has been written down with tears...

15. March 1843

He got me as soon as I entered the basement. Father locked me into a cage and I realized that this room was made for torturing. On a wooden table I saw a corpse lying there and I realized that it was my mother´s body...

When Private read this part his eyes faded to black. He imagined the situation of the girl. Now he could understand how Skipper felt seeing the dead bodies of Kowalski and Rico. He looked at his leader who seemed to live through this pain again...

16. March 1843

Father buried my mothers corpse in the garden she loved so much. Now he remains sitting in a corner and kept staring to the ground for hours. Why can´t anybody help me? I didn´t dare to move from fear. I didn´t know how long I can endure this anymore. But then he saw me writting my diary...

The penguins couldn´t read just one another word because the rest of the text was completely covered in blood. They asumed that she was killed while writting..

Private took an anxious look around as he would be attacked any second. But then he saw something liying at the corner. " Skipper, t-there!" muttered the small penguin and Skipper turned around.

Their hearts stopped beating for a second when they saw a human skeleton lying there. There were a rusty knife and a piece of paper lying next to it. Skipper took a deep breath and waddled ahead to take a closer look at this. But Private wasn´t able to move just an inch closer to that scenario. Skipper took the paper and there was something written on it too.

...I know I´m cursed. I hear voices in my head telling me what to do. I can´t get rid of them and they force my to stay here in the basement. No one else is allowed to be here...

My wife, my child. I have to kill them. They´re knowing too much already. I can´t let them ruin my dream. This is my house and I´ll never let something happen to it. The voiced will lead me...

I´m a demon. I killed my wife and my child as an order from the voices and I´m full of joy. Now nobody can harm this house. But what have I done? The house forces me to sacrifice myself too. I´ll be immortal and Í´ll slaught anybody who dares entering this house. With the knife cuting my throat I sweare that my spirit will keep this house save from devious souls...

The letter ended and Skipper was just scared. This were the last thoughts of the father before he killed himself.


	8. The Curse

**Note: This will be a scary chapter, so keep on reading. XOXO**

Skipper felt his bloodpressure decreasing. That all was too much for him. Private was right from the start. This house really is haunted. Before Skipper´s bloodcirculation collapsed from the shock he supported himself on the wall. He couldn´t breathe anymore because he was just terrified which made him also unalble to think clearly. Private noticed immediatly that something was wrong and ran to his leader. "Skipper, you´re okay? What happened?" asked the little penguin nervously and supported Skipper who almost lost consiousness. "You were so right, young Private. This house ist haunted by a demon ghost, which is killing anybody who set´s foot here. I never believed in ghosts but there´s no doubt anymore. We´re damned to die here." muttered Skipper gasping for air.

The leader wasn´t able to focus anymore, he got dizzy. Anything tried to posses him, that made him loosing control over his body and emotions. Private was seriously worried about him, because he couldn´t get rid of the dizzyness and he could hardly breathe. The small penguin didn´t think that was all because of fear. "Skipper, what´s with you? You don´t feeling alright, do you?" asked the little boy cautious. But when Private asked him, a sudden rage came over Skipper which he could hardly hold back.

"Of course I don´t feel alright. I just lost two of my best friends and got to see their bodies. How would you feel?" Skipper srcreamed and looked at Private angrily. The small penguin went a few steps back. He didn´t know what got into his leader.

Skipper took a deep breath and calmed down again. He couldn´t explain his sudden agressions. "Private, I´m so sorry. I don´t know what´s wrong with me." Skipper said despaired but Private was still afraid of him.

"Private, what´s with you?" Skipper asked with a sudden anger. He took a few steps toward Private who tried to avoid him. "I know what happened to you. Don´t you understand? The father of the family here got possessed by his own house. And the same is happening to you at the moment. Can you hear voices too?" Private asked from a save distance.

"You´re completely out of mind. Why should I got haunted by a ghost? I´m still myself, got it?" Skipper yelled angrily. From his threatening look Private got just terrified. He didn´t know what to do. Should he get away and leave Skipper to his fate? But that was no option for him.

Now Skipper noticed that something was wrong with him. His dizzyness increased again and he heard distant voices in his head suddenly. "Catch him, kill him! You don´t need him!" But Skipper tried to fight them in his mind. He pressed his flippers on his head and dropped on his knees. "No, never. Get out of my head." Skipper screamed.

Private couldn´t watch this any longer. He wanted to help his leader and took a few steps toward him. "Skipper, please. You have to resist them." Private said and tried to sound confident. Skipper turned around suddenly and opened his eyes. "Private, run! Run as fast as you can and leave!" the leader muttered, but the little penguin didn´t know why.

Skipper started to scream as he was in huge pain. Again he pressed his flippers on his head and got up from the ground. With a sudden silence he remained heavy breathing. "Skipper, I..." Private said. But he couldn´t finish the sentence because Skipper jumped towards him like a lightning. He threw the little penguin to the ground. Private managed to block any further attacks and ran through the door back upstairs. Skipper followed him. Private knew that this was not Skipper anymore and he knew that he would kill him right now.

The small penguin couldn´t do anything but flee. As fast as he could he ran up the stairs into the entrance hall. Again and again he turned around to look after Skipper.

Back in the hall he couldn´t hear any sound from his leader. But he knew that Skipper was still after him. Private had no chance to help him so he hid behind a vase. But when he decided to take a look, Skipper was standing right in front of him.

He was holding a rusty knife in his right flipper. Private had no way out anymore. Slowly he pressed himself against the wall in frear. Skipper walked towards him. He dragged the knife behind him. He looked very threatening and watched the terrified Private with a bad grin on his face. "You should never have entered this house. Now you´ll die. Your grave is waiting for you already." Skipper said with a strange smoky undertone in his voice that doesn´t belong to him. "Skipper, I know you´re not yourself anymore. You´ve become possesed but you gotta get rid of the ghost. I know that you´d never hurt me." Private said with a prayer in his voice.

Skipper hesitated as he would think. But then he shook his head and raised the knife against Private, who was trapped now. He couldn´t do nothing exept try to remember Skipper to himself. "Skipper please. It´s me, Private. Do you remember me? Remember Kowalski and Rico. The two were murdered by the ghost that has possessed you now. Do you want to loose me too?" Private cried desperately as Skipper got closer and closer with the raised knife.

The leader suddenly stopped. "Rico, Kowalski. No ..." he muttered in a trembling voice, which was his own again. Private knew that he would succeed with this tactic. But the leader kept on raising the knife. The spirit was still there. "You can´t save me and also yourself" Skipper yelled again with the smoky voice and jumped on Private trying to stab him. But private reacted quickly and kicked against Skippers chest, so he slammed on the opposite wall, where he remained lying and gasping for air.

Private thought that he had made it. But Skipper quickly jumped back on his feet. He wavered as he felt very dizzy. "No, get out." he murmured softly and held his head again. The little boy saw his chance. "Skipper, do you remember the zoo and all our friends? Kowalski and Rico? You didn´t want them to die. We´ll never see them again. And you're the reason for that." Private shouted bravely.

It took a lot of strengh to talk about his lost friends, but he carried on. He knew that Skipper was able to break the spell, if he would just remember. When the leader heard that, he realized what he was doing. He tried to get rid of the voices in his head. He fought against the dazed feeling. Private watched him as he went to the ground.

Skipper fought the spirit in his mind and seemed to get rid of him slowly, but he kept forcing him to do what the ghost wanted. Private watched how the ghost inflicted physically pain to Skipper to make him obeying him. But the leader wasn´t able to hurt Private although he was told so. Skippers sadness and despair came back and showed him what danger he was to Private now.

The leader saw strange shadows appearing around him. A diabolical laughter sounded in his thoughts. Private watched how Skipper has been tortured mentally by the spirit. But a strange black mist surrounded the leader suddenly. The spirit wanted to draw him back in his sinister spell. Skipper knew now no way out anymore. He was too weak to defeat the spirit. But he had one last chance. He remembered the promise he gave Private. He would protect him, even if he would die. Skipper gathered his remaining strength now and picked up the rusty knife that was lying next to him.

He had no choice, because he didn´t want to loose Private too. The leader took another deep breath and shouted, "Get away, demon!" With these words he rammed the knife into his stomach.


	9. Skipper s Death

**Note: I think this is the most emotional scene I´ve ever written. It´s incredible sad so pepare youself with some tissues. I know some of you will hate me for letting Skipper die, but notice, this is not the end of the story. Everything will change at the end. So please read and review. XOXO**

Skipper screamed as the cold metal pierced his body. But he felt that he was master of his senses again. He could feel the blood pouring from his stomach as he pulled the knife out and threw it into the corner with last strengh. Now everything was good, he thought, and leaned against the wall.

Private didn´t know what happened. He heard Skipper scream and the fog lifted slowly. Suddenly all doors and windows opened and a roar echoed through the house. "Skipper, what happened?" Is the ghost gone? " Private shouted hopefully. The fog had completely disappeared now and the little penguin saw Skipper leaning against the wall. But something was wrong, Private thought. As he approached Skipper, he suddenly felt something warm and wet on his feet. It was blood. Private gasped. It could only be Skipper´s blood, he thought scared.

Skipper saw Private running towards him. Although the pain was very strong, he knew that he´d done the right thing. The little boy looked how the leader suddenly fell to the side and remained lying on the ground. Private didn´t want to realize what happened. He raised his Skipper from the floor and held him in his flippers. Now he saw what had happened.

"Skipper, what have you done?" Private whimpered with tears in his eyes. "I told you that I would protect you with my life and so I did. The ghost can´t posses my body when I´m dead. Now everything is fine, I can´t hurt you anymore." Skipper muttered weakly. "No, nothing will be fine. You're injured. Quickly, I'll take you out of here, and get you to a hospital. You will survive. You´ll be fine again!" Private cried in panic. But Skipper knew he would die now. "No, kid. It's too late. You can not help me anymore ..." Skipper gasped and coughed out some blood. Private got a shock and wiped the blood from Skippers beak. He quickly tore the bandage from Skippers flipper and pushed it down on his stomach to stop the bleeding. But it didn´t work anyway so Private has to realize that Skipper´s going to bleed to death

"No, Skipper. You can´t die. Please! Don´t leave me alone." whimpered the boy and started to cry. He pressed Skipper on his body and sobbed. The leader smiled gently. "You'll never be alone. We will live in your memory. We´ll always be with you." whispered the leader, groaning from pain. "No, I won´t let you die. Never!" cried Private, who wasn´t albe to accept that Skipper was dying.

"You have to. There is no other way." Skipper said, and turned his head slightly to one side. "Look, the door is open. You have to get out of here quickly. You can´t help me anymore. Save yourself" muttered the leader. His voice was getting weaker and he felt that he hasn´t much time left.

"No, I´ll stay with you. I won´t leave you here. I want to be by your side when you fall...asleep." Private whimpered, he finally understood that it was too late. Skipper felt a sting in his heart. He didn´t want to leave the small penguin too but this is the moment when they had to go seperate ways. Skipper always wanted a funeral of honor and without emotions and tears but he couldn´t endure this pain anymore.

"You´ll always be my little brother, Private. And if I ever had done something wrong or hurt you, then I want you to know I´m so sorry." Skipper said, and started crying too. Private felt completely helpless. He didn´t know how he should carry on living without his friends or more his family, but now he wanted to stay with Skipper, as long as possible. He felt Skipper was breathing weakly. Gently, he petted Skippers chest and held him in his flippers.

The leader felt despite severe pain free and comfortable. The penguin knew that his life is about to end, but he managed to save at least one member of his team. He closed his eyes and felt his senses slowly fainting. "Private, I wish that life´s better to you than me. I hope you´ll carry on for us. Keep the penguin´s way alive. I wish you all the luck in the world and you know that I always keep an eye on you, little soldier." Skipper whispered. He could barely speak clearly.

He saw in Private tearful eyes, and felt that his heart was getting weaker and weaker. Skipper knew that he´s going to die any moment. He would see Kowalski and Rico again, that was his only comforting thought. Private also noticed that the leader was barely breathing anymore. He pressed his flipper on Skippers chest so he felt exactly when his heart will stop beating.

Suddenly Skippers eyes blacked out. "P-Private. ... It´s time ... I-I love you, my brother." Skipper muttered in a trembling voice before his pulse failed. Private couldn´t do anything but cry. "Shh, Skipper. It´s alright. Now sleep ... I love you too and I will never forget you." Private whimpered.

Skipper closed his eyes and with a very last breath he died in Privates flippers. The little boy felt Skippers body relaxing so that he remained lifeless in his arms. He pressed Skippers dead body on him and cried bitter tears. "This can´t be true! Skipper come back! Please, don´t leave me."Private screamed in despair.

Everything revolved around him. He couldn´t accept Skippers death. But it was true, Skipper won´t be with him anymore. He won´t speak to him ever again. The little penguin didn´t want to feel anything anymore and screamed into the night. In desperation and fear he didn´t notice how everything went black around him. But Private didn´t care about anything anymore.


	10. Awakening

**Note: Thank you for the good reviews. The last chapter was so emotional and sad but I really enjoyed writting this. I just started this story because I had exactly this dramatic scene on my mind, so I made a whole story from it. But now all ends good. Don´t worry it a happy end but not the end of the story. There will be just one another chapter. So enjoy reading and please review**

Private screamed in despair. He didn´t want to live anymore too. "Skipper, please come back!" he shouted into the sudden darkness that surrounded him. Suddenly everything was black around him. Skippers dead body disappeared from Privates embrace. The little penguin heard voices around him. "Private, everything is okay. Everything will be alright." said Skipper´s voice away. The penguin was pleased to hear the voice of his leader. "Skipper, please don´t leave me alone. Help me!" Private cried desperately.

"Private, wake up. I'm here, I´ll never leave you. You need to calm down." Skipper's voice sounded clearer now. The little penguin opened his eyes. Skipper was standing right in front of him and seemed to be very worried. Private felt that he was in his bunk. He heard Kowalski and Rico's snoring. They were alive. It was all a nightmare, the little penguin thought fast. He noted that tears were streaming down his face.

Without warning he jumped at Skipper and hugged him. The leader was surprised and hugged the desperate Private too, who started crying terribly. "Skipper Oh, you're alive. You are fine." Private cried and buried his face in Skipper´s feathers. "Uh, yes of course I´m fine. Why should I don´t be OK? Now calm down again. Everything is alright, I'm here," said Skipper, stroking Private softly over his head.

But the boy wasn´t able to calm down, because the nightmare was as real to him like Skipper hugging him right now. "I had a nightmare, Skipper. It was so terrible." Private wept and pressed his face more tightly on Skipper's chest. The leader felt the tears soaking his feathers.

Slowly, he tried to get the totally sceared Private on the couch, which stood in front of the television. "Private, look at me. You´re save. You are at home and we are all with you." Skipper said comforting. Private glanced at the leader, it was not a dream. Skipper was actually there. Slowly he managed to calm down. "What happened, Skipper?" ask Private and wiped his eyes. "I should rather ask you in the first place, kid. I woke up the to go to the bathroom and suddenly you were crying out loud. Kowalski and Rico haven´t noticed your screaming but I went quickly to you to see what's going on. You've just been crying and meant that I shouldn´t leave that I shouldn´t die, "said Skipper, who now looked completely clueless at Private. He has never seen Private as despaired and dissolved like that.

Private glanced at his feet and said nothing. "Private, if you want to talk about it, I'm here for you." Skipper said sympathetically,he was determined to find out what had scared the little penguin so much. "You´ll think I´m totally out of mind." Private said. "No, I will not. You know you can trust me with everything. Although I´m your leader but also your friend." Skipper said, putting his flipper on Private´s back to comfort him. "Well, well ..." Private started and told Skipper every detail of the dream. The leaders felt a cold shiver down his spine as Private told him about Kowalski´s and Rico´s death. It was so extremely hard for him to talk about it again. Private then told the part were Skipper was dying and the leader actually felt a sting in his stomach when he heard this.

As a Private had finished he started to cry again, he had to get over this at first. Skipper was shocked, how could the boy just dream of such things. He knew how Private felt now, even he would be terrified by dreaming such horrible things. "Come here." Skipper said, and spread his wings to hug Private. The little penguin pressed himself tightly to Skipper´s ches. "Everything is fine, it was just a bad, stupid dream." said the leader gently. They sat there about fifteen minutes like that. "Do you think that you can sleep tonight?" Skipper asked. "I don´t think so but it doesn´t matter. I´ll just stay awake because we´ll have to get up early tomorrow for training anyway" Private said with a sighing sound. "No, I think we´ll just take a day off tomorow and sleep as long as we can." Skipper said, because he was tired now too and also wouldn´t get up early. "But I don´t think I still can´t just shut an eye ." said the little solidier. "Should I stay with you?" said the leader, who wanted to make absolutely sure that Private got some sleep tonight.

"You would really do that for me?" Private asked hopefully. Skipper looked in with a gentle smile. "Yes I do, we can sleep on the couch." Skipper said, and took two pillows from their bunks. "So here we go," said the leader, and gave Private his pillow.

The little pengin laid down next to his leader and fell asleep after a few minutes. Skipper was glad but also worried about Private´s deam. Was this a premonition? He couldn´t imagine how he got this idea of a haunted house. Private always tried to avoid any horrormovies. So how could his dream be like one? Skipper yawned, he was so tired. " I gotta ask Kowalski tomorrow, where such bad dreams come from" the leader thought and fell asleep immediately.

**Note: I think it´s time to start a new story because this one is almost finished. But I have ideas for 2 stories. So I ask you.**

**1. My first idea was about the penguins going to a heavy metal festival as a surprise for Skipper´s birthday. But the lemurs follow them and drive Skipper crazy. In this story might be a bit of alcohol and cigarette use like at a real rock concert. This would be a fun story.**

**2. The next idea would be about Skipper has been captured and transported to an animal lab. Cruel doctors are testing some new and strange meds on him so he won´t be able to escape. The other penguins try everything to find and rescue Skipper before he´ll die from the meds.**

**I know this are just ideas but I don´t know which I should write first. **


	11. Analysis

Skipper woke up early next morning. The others were still sleeping, even Private. Skipper looked worried at the little penguin and thought about the dream again and again. I really need to talk to Kowalski, the leader thought and sneaked to the bunks were Kowalski and Rico were still sleeping.

"Hey, Kowalski. Wake up." Skipper whispered. "Mmhh?", the scientist mumbled. "Come on, I gotta ask you something very important." Skipper said. "Ok, I´m on the spot!", Kowalski said and was awake immediatly. "Let´s go to the lab." Skipper ordered and went ahead. Kowalski followed him.

"Skipper, what´s going on?" the scientist asked slowly getting nervous about Skipper´s mysterious behavior. "Well, Kowalski. It´s about Private. He had such a bad nightmare last night. Nothing special, you might think. But this one was different, it was so cruel and full of despair. I don´t know how Private could dream such horrible things." Skipper explained and told Kowalski the whole story.

After the leader finished, Kowalski needed to sit down for a moment. "Wow, this is really bad. How could he dream about the death of the three of us." Kowalski said in shock. "That´s why I ask you. Can you tell me why this happened?" Skipper asked.

"Well it´s not scientific proved why dreams happen. The most people think that dreams are revelating our deepest desires, but I don´t think this is Privates desire." "You think Private wanted us to die?" Skipper asked shocked. "No, no. This might be. Some dreams are about desires, worst fears or memories. In this case I think, Privates worst fear is to loose us, or more to loose you, Skipper." Kowalski explained.

Skipper finally understood. Private was more close to him than he thought. "Skipper, I think Private needs you as a big brother and not just as leader. He´s a child without real parents so I think that he want you to take care of him." Kowalski said and looked at Skipper who stared on the ground.

He never knew that Private felt that way. Skipper was a little to hard to Private sometimes. But he was always careing about the little penguin. "Okay, Kowalski. I´ll talk to him. I want to be more like a brother from now on. I know I was mean to him sometimes because I wanted him to be like me. Maybe I shouldn´t have done that." the leader said.

Kowalski nodded and both went back into their living room. Private and Rico were still sleeping. Kowalski waddled back to his bunk and fell asleep again. Skipper went back to the couch and laid down next to Private, who woke up immediatly. "Skipper, how late. Have I oversleep?" Private asked with blood shot eyes. "No, no relax. You had a nightmare last night, you gotta rest, Private" Skipper said gently. "Yeah, I know. Skipper I´m still scared I won´t be able to sleep for weeks." Private said sadly.

"You will. I´m here for you. You know, I´m sometimes a little bit to mean to you. But I want you to know that I was always overprotective. I didn´t want to hurt you at all. I love you, like a little brother that I´ve never had." Skipper mumbled quietly. He didn´t like to talk about emotions at all.

"Really?" Private asked happy. Skipper nodded with a smile. " Skipper, I never told you, but I always wanted you to be my brother." Private said and yawned. "Now let´s get back to sleep." Skipper said who yawned too. The little penguin cuddled up to Skipper and fell asleep. The leader was glad now about having a little brother who he can take care of.

**Note: This is the end of the story. I hope you liked it. Please read and review and give me some advises about my next stories I should start to write. My suggestions are on chapter **


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